VA wants to ensure vets know about benefits

For five years after their discharge, combat veterans have special access to VA health care.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The Department of Veterans Affairs will contact nearly 570,000 recent combat veterans to ensure they know about VA’s medical services and other benefits, beginning Thursday.

“We will reach out and touch every veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to let them know we are here for them,” said Dr. James B. Peake, secretary of Veterans Affairs, in a press release from Washington. “The VA is committed to getting these veterans the help they need and deserve.”

A contractor-operated “Combat Veteran Call Center” will telephone two distinct populations of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the first phase, calls will go to an estimated 17,000 veterans who were sick or injured while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The VA will offer to appoint a care manager to work with them if they don’t have one already. Care managers ensure veterans receive appropriate care and know about their VA benefits, Peake said.

For five years after their discharge from the military, combat veterans have special access to VA health care. The VA screens combat veterans for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. VA personnel have been deployed to the military’s major medical centers to assist wounded service members and their families during the transition to civilian lives, Peake said.

The second phase of calling will target 550,000 Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans who have been discharged from active duty but have not contacted the VA for services. The veterans will be informed about the VA’s benefits and services. “We will leave no stone unturned to reach these veterans,” said Dr. Edward Huycke, chief of the Veterans Affairs — Department of Defense coordination office.

Veterans can also receive assistance locally from their county Veterans Service Commission.